Tales from Beyond the Mountains
by fringeperson
Summary: Sequel to 'Tales of the Nibel Mountains', oneshot, complete, don't own anything. Dedicated to Sarai19, who kicked my muse rather than just asking for a sequel. Seph gets the wolf-resistant mountain boy to Midgar, but can they handle this 'backwater hick'


I received this review from Sarai19 for my story _Tales of the Nibel Mountains_:

(Points an accusatory finger) EVIL! You only made this a one-shot and you are EVIL! I'd love to see Sephiroth drag Cloud to Midgar! Then let various Shinra employees, SOLDIERS, and Turks see him eat a raw meal! Angeal and Genesis would also be a fun introduction!

Some other points to make: when Sephiroth finds out what Nibelheim did to Cloud (most likely when they try to drag him through it as they attempt to escort him), do you really think he'll let them go unpunished? Cloud will also have to receive an education!

... and for once all my readers get an explanation within one of the stories. Wow. Now, normally, I _am_ evil and don't write sequels just because I get asked to. _But_ because this actually poked my (previously dead) muse instead of just asking/demanding/begging for a sequel that I felt no inclination to write and had no _way_ of writing (dead muses tend to prevent sequel-writing)... well, now this exists!

I'm probably still evil though, aren't I?

~Begin!~

The conclusion was reached that what Strife called 'the madness' was the source of the monster problem that Sephiroth had been sent to Nibelheim to remedy. This meant tracking down the source of the madness to eliminate it. This source turned out to be a rather creepy looking thing called 'Jenova' that had enmeshed itself with the workings of the Nibelheim mako reactor. Zack cut it out and Sephiroth used his fire materia on it until there was nothing left.

Cloud, upon seeing the magic, became curious about the glowing orbs the men carried.

"There's a cave full of these up the mountain," Cloud said, his face an inch away from the glowing orb that Sephiroth was holding. By now he was really getting the hang of talking. Anybody who stayed around Zack long enough would soon pick up the way conversation was supposed to flow.

"This one produces fire," Sephiroth said, then put it away, drawing out another. "This one gives healing." Privately wondering how to convince the blond to first: show him this cave full of materia, and second: come back to Midgar with him.

Cloud blinked and, as he had _not_ done with the fire materia, reached out to touch it.

Magic flowed out and around as Cloud's hand closed over the orb. A minor cut on Zack's cheek closed over, leaving not even a scar behind. He also threw up a glowing purple substance which disintegrated into the life stream as soon as it hit the floor. Vincent shuddered and then stared at the arm currently covered by his golden gauntlet, before carefully removing it. He stared in awe at his arm. Later, when he was given a chance to bathe, he would find that all of his scars from his time under Hojo's knife had vanished. Sephiroth collapsed, falling to his hands and knees, forgetting about the materia that Cloud was still holding. The silver-haired man, just like his second in command, emptied his stomach. The difference was that the horrible substance that left _his_ body glowed black before dissolving into the life stream.

When Sephiroth was able to stand again, his eyes were different. Almost as famous as his skill in combat and his long silver hair were his eyes: their alarming shade of green and the catlike slit pupils. Still green, though a less intense tone, the slit pupils had changed. They were now the normal rounds that all humans had. He'd be feeling a bit wobbly for a little while though.

Beyond the room, the deformed clones in their tanks dissolved into the life stream. Beyond the reactor in Nibelheim, an old woman's cough cleared up completely and the chickenpox which had been plaguing the mayor's daughter cleared up. Beyond Nibelheim, throughout the Nibel Mountain Range, all the animals that had been affected by the madness blinked as their own eyes returned to normal and their senses returned. The madness was gone from Nibel.

~oOo~

It had taken some bribery, but eventually Sephiroth and Zack convinced Vincent and Cloud to come with them back to Midgar. Also sharing the truck they had ridden back had been a large box stuffed full of raw, naturally formed materia... and a Nibel wolf. That they left the people of Nibelheim behind with only about half as many houses as there had been when the Soldiers arrived would be left out of the report, but was part of buttering Cloud up for leaving – as well as a minor rage-relief for Sephiroth when he found out exactly _why_ and _what part_ they'd played in Cloud's becoming, as Zack had put it, a 'wild one'.

The wolf had lain placidly at Cloud's feet the entire ride, chewing on a large, meaty behemoth bone, sometimes licking the marrow out of the middle when the bone cracked under the animal's teeth. It might have been less disturbing if Cloud hadn't spent the whole ride doing basically the same thing as he listened to Zack natter on about the Soldier program and received reading lessons from Vincent while Sephiroth just watched him.

It was midnight when they arrived at the ShinRa building on top of the plate. The only people awake were the guards on duty and a few Turks, Veld among them.

Veld, who came out to greet them and almost fainted at the sight of Vincent, his old partner. Vincent went with him. They didn't hear much of Vincent again after that, though Hojo was reported "missing, presumed dead" some time in the following week. No one mourned his passing. No one was able to figure out how it happened either, though honestly, the Turks didn't investigate the matter as intently as they could have.

Zack trooped himself off to his apartment with the crate of materia, and Sephiroth escorted Cloud – and the wolf – to _his_ apartment on the top floor of the building. The wolf settled down on the rug, and Cloud would have lain down with the animal if Sephiroth hadn't tugged the boy towards the bathroom. It didn't take long to clean the teenager up and cut his hair so that it was slightly tidier. It still stuck upwards at odd angles, but it wasn't as ridiculous as it had been. Dried, Cloud would have _then_ gone back to lie down with the wolf on the rug... except that Sephiroth guided him to the bedroom instead.

Sephiroth, wearing only a pair of loose black tracksuit bottoms, drew a naked Cloud under the sheets, mentally noting that he was going to need to buy clothes for his blond soon.

~oOo~

Sephiroth walked on one side of Cloud down the halls of the ShinRa building, the Nibel wolf padding along on the teen's other side. Cloud was again wearing his leather groin-wrap with his blunt knife tucked into it by his hip and nothing else. Sephiroth had contemplated lending the blond something to wear, he didn't want everybody staring at the gorgeous youth, but nothing he owned would have fit the teenager.

It was early and they were on their way to the mess hall/cafeteria for breakfast. Sephiroth would soon realise his mistake in this action, but at that moment the possible ramifications of Cloud Strife being handed the food served to Soldiers, Turks and office drones had not occurred to him. The wolf, he was fairly sure, would eat anything that smelled of meat and was dead. He would shortly learn that this was an incorrect assumption as well. About the only thing Sephiroth had managed to get right was to be there so early, meaning that there were very few Soldiers awake yet to see what was about to happen.

In the mess hall, Cloud stared blankly at what was being offered, while his companion sniffed a few times before curling its snout and huffing, turning away from it in disgust.

"This is not food," Cloud announced firmly, then turned to the wolf. "Hunt," he told it, giving it a nudge to it's broad, heavily furred shoulder.

The animal left the expansive dining space, Cloud following behind it. Sephiroth grabbed a cereal bar and chased after them. He didn't want to find that the Nibel wolf had decided to hunt his men because the food in the mess hall was unacceptable to its nose or Cloud's expectations of food.

The 'hunt' brought them down to the part of the labs where Hojo kept specimens for his experiments. At the moment, the specimens included a malboro, a chocobo and a young behemoth.

Wolf and boy grinned and headed for the behemoth calf. It really was just a young one, and would feed the two well enough to last them through the day. Of course, they still had to hunt the beast – as soon as Cloud opened the door of the containment unit, the little monster had gone charging out of the labs and down the halls, seeking wide open spaces.

Cloud held back the Nibel wolf, giving their prey a little head start. They still caught it of course, felling it easily enough as soon as it was out of the halls. In a fit of irony, fate had led the behemoth not to the outside world, but to the same mess hall/cafeteria that Sephiroth had brought Cloud to earlier.

Only by this time it was beginning to fill with people.

~oOo~

Genesis smirked as he sidled up to his friend, rival and fellow general. The silver-haired pain in his rear was out of it, completely. Just standing in the door to the cafeteria with a glazed look on his face.

"Gen, don't," Angeal cautioned as the red-head left him behind. The black-haired general could see exactly what his childhood friend was up to, and he didn't want to see him skewered.

Genesis just waved him off as he reached Sephiroth. "You should really pay more attention to your surroundings," he purred into Sephiroth's ear.

"Hello Gen," Sephiroth answered absently, his gaze not even flickering.

"Oh? Just 'hello Gen'? That's it?" Genesis pouted. "I'm disappointed in you Seph."

"Well, I've got a question for you I suppose," Sephiroth allowed, not looking down to his friend's face. "Is it bad that I may be turned on by that?" he asked, gesturing to where Cloud and the Nibel wolf were tearing into the dead behemoth with their teeth.

"That depends on what aspect of it is making you horny," Genesis answered, once he'd picked his jaw up off the floor and regained his composure. "If it's the dead behemoth: yes. If it's the Nibel wolf doing what Nibel wolves will naturally do: yes. If it's the effortless display of raw power being made by the nearly naked and very yummy blond: no."

"The blond," Sephiroth said.

"No. It's perfectly acceptable to be turned on," Genesis said reassuringly.

"Also acceptable to be made queasy by the blood and the tearing of flesh and the smell," Angeal added, pointing out the various other people in the mess who were running for bathroom doors, hands clasped over mouths and stomachs.

"Also, that isn't even the most impressive display of raw power I've seen by Cloud," Sephiroth said.

"Cloud?" Genesis questioned.

"The blond. His name is Cloud Strife."

"Oh. Okay. So what's more impressive?" Genesis asked.

Sephiroth smiled in reminiscence. "Him holding a mastered materia for healing was pretty spectacular," he said. "So was him taking down a _larger_ behemoth by himself, and then a crazed Nibel wolf, especially considering that knife of his."

Angeal frowned. "Why? What about his knife?" he asked.

"It's as dull as the blunt edge of your buster," Sephiroth answered with a smirk.

"We're taking him to the VR room as soon as we've all eaten," Genesis stated, wanting to see this wonder boy in action, particularly what Sephiroth meant about the materia.

~oOo~

"Seph here says you have an impressive reaction to materia," Genesis said as they walked to the VR room. All six of them: Sephiroth, Genesis, Angeal, Zack, Cloud... and the Nibel wolf.

Cloud shrugged. "He and Zack both threw up something that looked unhealthy last time I held one. I suppose it could have been toxins being expelled from the body."

Zack blinked in surprise. "Where did you get those big words from?" he asked. "You were using very short sentences just a little while ago!"

Cloud shrugged again. "I listen to people talk," he answered simply.

"But where did you get that kind of language from?" Zack insisted.

"Vincent," Cloud said simply. "I asked why you and Sephiroth had thrown up back in the reactor after you had both fallen asleep on the ride here."

"Oh."

Genesis took his cure materia and his restore materia out of his bracelet while this conversation was happening, and as they stepped into the VR room, shoved them into Cloud's hands.

All over ShinRa, office drones suddenly felt revitalised, Soldiers and Turks were throwing up ominous glowing substances that dissipated into the life stream, experiments in the labs rejected the substances that were being injected into them and proceeded to break free (Rufus Shinra among them)... and Angeal and Genesis fell to their knees, heaving and shuddering. Sephiroth's hair turned black.

"Ya know Seph, suddenly you look a lot more like Valentine," Zack commented in a stunned voice, even as he did his best to sooth his mentor and help him to stand again while Sephiroth assisted Genesis.

Another mystery chalked up to the sexy blond that Sephiroth brought back from the Nibel Mountains. Right up there with why the hell Cloud had wanted to bring back the Nibel wolf.

Later that day, once the people of ShinRa were operational again, reports would start coming in of all the sick people in Midgar suddenly and miraculously healing, and _plant-life_ of all things springing up all over the place. One particular little church would be almost completely overrun with flowers when Zack went down there later to visit his girlfriend – who refused to let anything wipe the grin off her face, even when it got to the point of spraining a cheek muscle just because she _couldn't_ stop smiling.

~The End~


End file.
